14.8v with regulator In Tank??
05-28-2020, 08:55 AM
#1
Thread Starter
14.8v with regulator In Tank??
Guy here at work is into just about all RC .. was talking about how my KT runs for 4 mins .. he suggested.. as he does this .. use a higher voltage battery with a voltage regulator.. Castle makes one that you program to exactly what you want .. will this work on my Torro King Tiger with the V3 electrics??
Last edited by Snake Wrangler; 05-28-2020 at 10:16 AM.
05-28-2020, 09:43 AM
#2
Most voltage regulators have a limit of anywhere from 1-3A (5-6A for high end ones). This is not enough to run a tank. If you can find a might higher regulator it can work, but it would be much cheaper to just purchase the correct battery. Running anything over a 2S is really not recommended though on the newest HL 6.x electronics you can run a 3S lipo. If you do not have the 6.x electronics then it is best to stick with the cheap NIMHs as low voltage cutoffs are not set in older boards.
05-28-2020, 09:57 AM
#3
Thread Starter
Guy here at work is into just about all RC .. was talking about how my KT runs for 4 mins .. he suggested.. as he does this .. use a higher voltage battery with a voltage regulator.. Castle makes one that you program to exactly what you want .. will this work on my HL King Tiger with the V3 electrics??
Most voltage regulators have a limit of anywhere from 1-3A (5-6A for high end ones). This is not enough to run a tank. If you can find a might higher regulator it can work, but it would be much cheaper to just purchase the correct battery. Running anything over a 2S is really not recommended though on the newest HL 6.x electronics you can run a 3S lipo. If you do not have the 6.x electronics then it is best to stick with the cheap NIMHs as low voltage cutoffs are not set in older boards.
05-28-2020, 10:27 AM
#5
I wouldn't recommend it. Running 4S in a tank is a bad idea no matter what unless it is a 10th scale or larger tank which are designed which higher voltage systems in mind like 12-24V. These 1/16th scale motors are really pushing it at even 9V for some of them. While the main motors can operate on 3S for limited amounts of time, you should add active cooling at that point which just increases the noise at that point. Unless the gear ratio is changed just adding more volts is going to make it less desirable to drive without an aftermarket system to control things like expo and endpoints. I still think it is cheaper to get a proper battery than a 10A 9V regulator. What regulator are you looking at btw?
05-28-2020, 02:39 PM
#6
Thread Starter
I wouldn't recommend it. Running 4S in a tank is a bad idea no matter what unless it is a 10th scale or larger tank which are designed which higher voltage systems in mind like 12-24V. These 1/16th scale motors are really pushing it at even 9V for some of them. While the main motors can operate on 3S for limited amounts of time, you should add active cooling at that point which just increases the noise at that point. Unless the gear ratio is changed just adding more volts is going to make it less desirable to drive without an aftermarket system to control things like expo and endpoints. I still think it is cheaper to get a proper battery than a 10A 9V regulator. What regulator are you looking at btw?
05-28-2020, 08:18 PM
#7
Ok what am I missing here?...Castle has Programable BEC Regulators as high as 15amps..battery wires in say 14.8v regulator drops it to what ever Volts you want ..Now the Tank needs 7.2v to run the system..with a bigger battery and bigger voltage turned down to what i need that equals long long run times as far as $$ goes Ill make more i just want the tanks to run for more than 5 mins at a time ..The size of the battery as long as its in the Voltage range on the bec and the output is in range..(These things can take some heat!) The tank will only get 7.2v and only 7.2v ..I know im not crazy ..BUT I could be
05-28-2020, 11:04 PM
#8
A regulator is actually wasting energy so you don't get longer run time with higher voltage. What happens is 14V goes in and say 7V comes out. Where does the other 7V go? Has something to do with that pesky Law of Conservation of Mass: matter or energy is neither created nor destroyed. The excess energy is converted to heat and released via the regulator which is why most of the larger ones have heatsinks on them. You are correct that the tank will only get 7V if the regulator is set to 7V, but the excess voltage is converted to heat.
Increasing the voltage on motors that can't handle it increases the heat inside the motor. If enough heat is generated the windings and/or brushes inside a brushed motor can melt. Putting too much voltage to your electronics will sometimes ensure you release the magic smoke. Magic smoke cannot be put back in once released. Plus it stinks pretty bad.
So what you need is not higher voltage, you need higher runtime. Runtime of batteries are rated in AH (amp hours). Amp hours describes how many hours a battery will run if drawing 1 amp. So a 7Ah (equivalent to 7000mah - miliamp hours) battery would run for 7 hours drawing 1 amp. So if you are drawing 2A continuous the battery would last for 3.5hrs. These of course are rough estimates. Battery age, temperature, and chemical composition can alter the actual runtimes. Cheap batteries usually don't live up to the manufacturer specs. What you need is a high quality battery with a higher AH or MAh rating. The one that came with the tank is probably something like 2Ah (equivalent to 2000MAh) battery. I would find a battery that fits that is the same voltage (or within a volt) as your current battery, but has a 4 or 5AH (4000-5000MAh) rating. To avoid LiPO battery issues I personally would recommend you find a nice 5000MAh NiMH (nickel metal hydride) battery. I say within a volt or because using a 7.4V battery in the place of a 7.2V battery is probably well within the specs the electronics and motors can handle. They may be able to handle more, but there would be few tank electronics that can handle 14V for our little models. Also I would get a high quality charger to charge your new high AH battery.
I was an electronics technician in the Army trained to repair all types of electronics (recorders, receivers, printers, computers, antennas, monitors, etc) down to the component level (IE: resister, transistor, capacitor, chip, diode, etc). Twenty years ago we actually fixed broken boards by hand soldering new components in for the bad ones. That was just a reference for where my battery/electronics knowledge stems from.
Increasing the voltage on motors that can't handle it increases the heat inside the motor. If enough heat is generated the windings and/or brushes inside a brushed motor can melt. Putting too much voltage to your electronics will sometimes ensure you release the magic smoke. Magic smoke cannot be put back in once released. Plus it stinks pretty bad.
So what you need is not higher voltage, you need higher runtime. Runtime of batteries are rated in AH (amp hours). Amp hours describes how many hours a battery will run if drawing 1 amp. So a 7Ah (equivalent to 7000mah - miliamp hours) battery would run for 7 hours drawing 1 amp. So if you are drawing 2A continuous the battery would last for 3.5hrs. These of course are rough estimates. Battery age, temperature, and chemical composition can alter the actual runtimes. Cheap batteries usually don't live up to the manufacturer specs. What you need is a high quality battery with a higher AH or MAh rating. The one that came with the tank is probably something like 2Ah (equivalent to 2000MAh) battery. I would find a battery that fits that is the same voltage (or within a volt) as your current battery, but has a 4 or 5AH (4000-5000MAh) rating. To avoid LiPO battery issues I personally would recommend you find a nice 5000MAh NiMH (nickel metal hydride) battery. I say within a volt or because using a 7.4V battery in the place of a 7.2V battery is probably well within the specs the electronics and motors can handle. They may be able to handle more, but there would be few tank electronics that can handle 14V for our little models. Also I would get a high quality charger to charge your new high AH battery.I was an electronics technician in the Army trained to repair all types of electronics (recorders, receivers, printers, computers, antennas, monitors, etc) down to the component level (IE: resister, transistor, capacitor, chip, diode, etc). Twenty years ago we actually fixed broken boards by hand soldering new components in for the bad ones. That was just a reference for where my battery/electronics knowledge stems from.
The following 2 users liked this post by tankme:
Danblee (05-29-2020),
Snake Wrangler (05-29-2020)
05-29-2020, 07:04 AM
#9
Thread Starter
05-29-2020, 07:06 AM
#10
Thread Starter
A regulator is actually wasting energy so you don't get longer run time with higher voltage. What happens is 14V goes in and say 7V comes out. Where does the other 7V go? Has something to do with that pesky Law of Conservation of Mass: matter or energy is neither created nor destroyed. The excess energy is converted to heat and released via the regulator which is why most of the larger ones have heatsinks on them. You are correct that the tank will only get 7V if the regulator is set to 7V, but the excess voltage is converted to heat.
Increasing the voltage on motors that can't handle it increases the heat inside the motor. If enough heat is generated the windings and/or brushes inside a brushed motor can melt. Putting too much voltage to your electronics will sometimes ensure you release the magic smoke. Magic smoke cannot be put back in once released. Plus it stinks pretty bad. So what you need is not higher voltage, you need higher runtime. Runtime of batteries are rated in AH (amp hours). Amp hours describes how many hours a battery will run if drawing 1 amp. So a 7Ah (equivalent to 7000mah - miliamp hours) battery would run for 7 hours drawing 1 amp. So if you are drawing 2A continuous the battery would last for 3.5hrs. These of course are rough estimates. Battery age, temperature, and chemical composition can alter the actual runtimes. Cheap batteries usually don't live up to the manufacturer specs. What you need is a high quality battery with a higher AH or MAh rating. The one that came with the tank is probably something like 2Ah (equivalent to 2000MAh) battery. I would find a battery that fits that is the same voltage (or within a volt) as your current battery, but has a 4 or 5AH (4000-5000MAh) rating. To avoid LiPO battery issues I personally would recommend you find a nice 5000MAh NiMH (nickel metal hydride) battery. I say within a volt or because using a 7.4V battery in the place of a 7.2V battery is probably well within the specs the electronics and motors can handle. They may be able to handle more, but there would be few tank electronics that can handle 14V for our little models. Also I would get a high quality charger to charge your new high AH battery.
I was an electronics technician in the Army trained to repair all types of electronics (recorders, receivers, printers, computers, antennas, monitors, etc) down to the component level (IE: resister, transistor, capacitor, chip, diode, etc). Twenty years ago we actually fixed broken boards by hand soldering new components in for the bad ones. That was just a reference for where my battery/electronics knowledge stems from.
Increasing the voltage on motors that can't handle it increases the heat inside the motor. If enough heat is generated the windings and/or brushes inside a brushed motor can melt. Putting too much voltage to your electronics will sometimes ensure you release the magic smoke. Magic smoke cannot be put back in once released. Plus it stinks pretty bad.
So what you need is not higher voltage, you need higher runtime. Runtime of batteries are rated in AH (amp hours). Amp hours describes how many hours a battery will run if drawing 1 amp. So a 7Ah (equivalent to 7000mah - miliamp hours) battery would run for 7 hours drawing 1 amp. So if you are drawing 2A continuous the battery would last for 3.5hrs. These of course are rough estimates. Battery age, temperature, and chemical composition can alter the actual runtimes. Cheap batteries usually don't live up to the manufacturer specs. What you need is a high quality battery with a higher AH or MAh rating. The one that came with the tank is probably something like 2Ah (equivalent to 2000MAh) battery. I would find a battery that fits that is the same voltage (or within a volt) as your current battery, but has a 4 or 5AH (4000-5000MAh) rating. To avoid LiPO battery issues I personally would recommend you find a nice 5000MAh NiMH (nickel metal hydride) battery. I say within a volt or because using a 7.4V battery in the place of a 7.2V battery is probably well within the specs the electronics and motors can handle. They may be able to handle more, but there would be few tank electronics that can handle 14V for our little models. Also I would get a high quality charger to charge your new high AH battery.I was an electronics technician in the Army trained to repair all types of electronics (recorders, receivers, printers, computers, antennas, monitors, etc) down to the component level (IE: resister, transistor, capacitor, chip, diode, etc). Twenty years ago we actually fixed broken boards by hand soldering new components in for the bad ones. That was just a reference for where my battery/electronics knowledge stems from.
